Professor Chan Heng Chee is the Institute of Policy Studies' 7th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book is an edited collection of her three IPS-Nathan Lectures, delivered between June and July 2020, and includes highlights of her question-and-answer segments with our virtual audience.Professor Chan analyses the uncertain and fast-changing world, and Singapore's place in it. She examines the major fault lines today, wrought by the sudden COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing malfunctioning of democracies and capitalist economies, and the unravelling of the world order. The United States-China rivalry has continued to intensify, with ripple effects on the world order, global trade and technology. Singapore will need to navigate this evolving relationship skilfully, while adapting its governance and economic models to respond to other challenges. But is it all doom and gloom for Singapore? Could our circumstances help us as we approach the new normal that lies ahead of us? The IPS-Nathan Lecture series was launched in 2014 as part of the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore. It seeks to advance public understanding and discussion of issues of critical national interest for Singapore.

Corinna Lim is the Institute of Policy Studies' 8th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book is an edited collection of her three IPS-Nathan Lectures, delivered in April and May 2021, and includes highlights of her question-and-answer segments with our virtual audience.Ms Lim examines the most pressing concerns facing women in Singapore, contributing her insights to the national gender equality review. She analyses why gender equality in the workplace and home has not advanced more despite Singapore's promising start in the 1960s with the introduction of the Women's Charter and gender-neutral education. She looks at what Singapore should do to accelerate gender equality, and tackles the issues of masculine norms that are harmful, support for family caregiving, and comprehensive sex education in Singapore.The IPS-Nathan Lecture series was launched in 2014 as part of the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore. It seeks to advance public understanding and discussion of issues of critical national interest for Singapore.

Section I. Home, heart, horizon. Welcome remarks / Ong Keng Yong. Keynote address / Lee Hsien Loong -- Section II. One united people. ch. 1. One united people / Pek Siok Lian. ch. 2. The third phase of Singapore's multiculturalism / Daniel P.S. Goh. ch. 3. Why NEWater instead of SEWater : difficult policies and unity for Singaporeans / Leong Ching. ch. 4. Reasonable persons of goodwill : personal experiences in navigating diversity / Aaron Maniam -- Section III. One gracious society. ch. 5. One gracious society / Paulin Tay Straughan. ch. 6. In search of graciousness / Terence Chong. ch. 7. Living graciously in Singapore / Braema Mathiaparanam. ch. 8. Kiasu monkeys and chicken pies / Gan Su-lin -- Section IV. One global city. ch. 9. One global city / Annie Koh. ch. 10. Beyond economics for economic success / Lee Kwok Cheong. ch. 11. The future of Singapore as a global city and its socio-economic implications / Nizam Idris. Globalising Singapore : One global city, global production networks, and the developmental state / Henry Wai-chung Yeung -- Section V. Conclusion. ch. 13. Closing address : Be open to all possibilities / Ong Keng Yong. ch. 14. Closing remarks / Tommy Koh

The Singapore Perspectives series is a yearly publication that provides critical analysis of emerging trends and issues Singapore faces in terms of social, economic and political development. It is a quick and essential reference for understanding the broad policy discussions that animate thought leaders, policy-makers and the public in the country during the immediate period or that are likely to do so in the short and medium term.In this volume, contributors look at the short-term challenges that Singapore faces and the policy options open to the nation, and share their insights on Singapore society, politics and economics. Written by an ensemble of authors from a wide spectrum of Singapore society, this volume covers critical issues under the themes such as “One United People”, “One Grace Society” and “One Global City”.Co-published by the think-tank, the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore, this is a useful publication for those with an interest in understanding the governance challenges facing a small, highly globalised economy and nation-state, or those who want a quick feel of the pulse of Singapore.

Global City Futures offers a queer analysis of urban and national development in Singapore, the Southeast Asian city-state commonly cast as a leading ?global city.? Much discourse on Singapore focuses on its extraordinary socioeconomic development and on the fact that many city and national governors around the world see it as a developmental model. But counternarratives complicate this success story, pointing out rising income inequalities, the lack of a social safety net, an unjust migrant labor regime, significant restrictions on civil liberties, and more. With Global City Futures Natalie Oswin contributes to such critical perspectives by centering recent debates over the place of homosexuality in the city-state. She extends out from these debates to consider the ways in which the race, class, and gender biases that are already well critiqued in the literature on Singapore (and on other cities around the world) are tied in key ways to efforts to make the city-state into not just a heterosexual space that excludes "queer" subjects but a heteronormative one that "queers" many more than LGBT people. Oswin thus argues for the importance of taking the politics of sexuality and intimacy much more seriously within both Singapore studies and the wider field of urban studies.

Dr Noeleen Heyzer is the Institute of Policy Studies' 10th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book is an edited collection of her three IPS-Nathan Lectures, delivered in November and December 2021, and includes highlights of her question-and-answer segments with our audience.Dr Heyzer examines how Singapore can continue to contribute to multilateral governance amid 21st century global challenges. Highly dependent on multilateral governance, Singapore has to engage the region and contribute to the multilateral global order. Dr Heyzer highlights the need for Singapore to build a mindset of 'solidarity as self-interest', contribute to a normative future that is equitable, inclusive and sustainable, and rethink our current multilateral governance framework. What does a renewed multilateralism look like? Can Singapore become an epicentre for this new multilateralism? And critically, how can we secure our common future and shape what we become as a nation?The IPS-Nathan Lecture series was launched in 2014 as part of the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore, named after Singapore's sixth and longest-serving president. It seeks to advance public understanding and discussion of issues of critical national interest for Singapore.

Two hundred years ago, Sir Stamford Raffles established the modern settlement of Singapore with the intent of seeing it become ‘a great commercial emporium and fulcrum’. But by the time independence was achieved in 1965, the city faced daunting problems of housing shortage, slums and high unemployment. Since then, Singapore has become one of the richest countries on earth, providing, in Sir Peter Hall’s words, ‘perhaps the most extraordinary case of economic development in the history of the world’. The story of Singapore’s remarkable achievements in the first half century after its independence is now widely known. In Planning Singapore: The Experimental City, Stephen Hamnett and Belinda Yuen have brought together a set of chapters on Singapore’s planning achievements, aspirations and challenges, which are united in their focus on what might happen next in the planning of the island-state. Chapters range over Singapore’s planning system, innovation and future economy, housing, biodiversity, water and waste, climate change, transport, and the potential transferability of Singapore’s planning knowledge. A key question is whether the planning approaches, which have served Singapore so well until now, will suffice to meet the emerging challenges of a changing global economy, demographic shifts, new technologies and the existential threat of climate change. Singapore as a global city is becoming more unequal and more diverse. This has the potential to weaken the social compact which has largely existed since independence and to undermine the social resilience undoubtedly needed to cope with the shocks and disruptions of the twenty-first century. The book concludes, however, that Singapore is better-placed than most to respond to the challenges which it will certainly face thanks to its outstanding systems of planning and implementation, a proven capacity to experiment and a highly developed ability to adapt quickly, purposefully and pragmatically to changing circumstances.

How do Middle East energy transitions fit into international energy markets? In this book, energy analysts, geopolitical experts and specialists of political economy examine the new energy potential in the Middle East. The particular focus surrounds how the region's access to finance, combined with the new global regulations and considerations of economic development, shape the region's energy transitions overall. The Middle East is revealed to be a key site of new energy production, sharing and transmission as well as technology innovation. At the same time, the authors examine the variables that determine the success in each country and energy source, including the advantages that hydrocarbon producers will have in renewables and transition fuels, and the risk that these might slow down the energy transition overall. In doing so, the book situates the energy transition in the Middle East in a broader context of economic development, financing models, and regulations, and explains how this context interacts with the development of new energy sources. Energy Transitions in the Middle East is an account of the challenges Middle Eastern states will face in navigating the global energy transition, as well as their key areas of opportunity.

Ravi Menon is the Institute of Policy Studies' 9th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book is an edited collection of his four IPS-Nathan Lectures, delivered in July 2021, and includes highlights of his question-and-answer segments with our virtual audience.Mr Menon examines how Singapore will come under pressure from four tectonic shifts altering the global landscape. Although still relevant, Singapore's guiding ethos of adaptation, meritocracy, and pragmatism may no longer be sufficient. To secure our future, we will need more innovation, inclusion, and inspiration. What does an innovative economy look like? What does it take to create a more inclusive society? What does it mean to be an inspiring nation? How does it all hold together in a refreshed Singapore Synthesis?The IPS-Nathan Lecture series was launched in 2014 as part of the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore. It seeks to advance public understanding and discussion of issues of critical national interest for Singapore.

This paper estimates medium-term potential growth for a country undergoing significant structural and secular changes. Our forward-looking framework, incorporating three analytical approaches for examining economic prospects, constitutes an important complement to typical backward-looking methods that filter or extrapolate historical data. In particular, the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in 2016 highlights significant structural changes underway in the Panamanian economy. We first analyze growth determinants and find that Panama is well-placed to maintain its business model, with improvements in education and governance important to support growth. Second, the current pipeline of investment projects can help sustain investment-led growth, although at a more moderate pace. Third, further development of the logistics and tourism sectors holds promise to further build on Panama’s comparative advantage.